White Crested Coquette

The White-crested Coquette (Lophornis adorabilis) is a residential bird, endemic to Costa Rica and Western Panama. They tend to stay high up in the canopy, but come down to forest edges and gardens from time to time to feed off of Inga, Vochysia, Lonchocarpus and Stachytarphets flowers (Stiles, and Skutch 1989). They also have been seen feeding off flowers of cashew trees, Anacardium (Fogden and Fogden 2005). When they emerge from the canopy and come to ground level, they can be very confiding, allowing approach within touching distance (Fogden and Fogden 2005).

The white-crested coquette is 7 cm long and weighs 2.7 g (Stiles and Skutch, 1989). They have short, straight bills, only ½ inches long (Ridgely, 1981). They’re bee-like in flight (Garrigues, and Dean, 2014). Very small with largely rufous tail and under parts. They have a white rump-band. Males are very unique looking and cannot be confused from other species of hummingbirds, while females look very similar to the female Rufous-crested Coquette (Ridgely, 1981). The male has an ornate crest and cheek-tufts. Males have coppery-bronze forehead and lores, erect white crest on forecrown, while the rest of the upper parts are bronzy-green. Their lower rump and upper tail-coverts purplish-bronze, rectrices chestnut-rufous, edged with bronze. Their throats, auriculars and long wispy cheek-tufts glitter green. Their forenecks are white the rest of their under parts are cinnamon-rufous, flecked with green on the sides of their breast. Their bills are red with a little black on the tip and their feet are dusky. The female is duller colored than the male. They lack a crest and cheek-tuft. Their faces and fore crowns are dusky-bronze. Their throats and chests are white. There is a little speckling of bronzy-green on their throats. They have black sub terminal tail bands and their upper mandible is all black. The young look very similar to the adult female but the tail pattern is a little duller and male babies have more heavily green-flecked throats (Stiles and Skutch, 1989).

The White-crested Coquette has a restricted range, endemic from central Costa Rica to western Panama. They are only found on the pacific slopes of these two countries due to the continental divide, which is too high of elevation for them to cross. They tend to reside in elevations from 300-1,400 meters, typically foraging small flowers high in the canopy of forests, which makes them rare to find (Skutch 1960). However, they can be spotted in gardens or forest edges where Inga, Vochysia, Lonchocarpus and Stachytarphets are found since they tend to feed off these plants frequently (Stiles and Skutch 1989). They’re more commonly seen in Costa Rica than Panama (Ridgley, 1981). There’s no known cite that guarantees you’ll see this species. However, they could be possibly be best found in El General valley, the Osa Peninsula and Golfito in Costa Rica (Fogden and Fogden 2005).

The White-crested Coquettes breed early in the dry season, from March to August, every year. During non-breeding seasons, males may possibly be nomadic, according to one observation (Skutch 1960). Either that or they lose their crest and look like females during non-breeding seasons. During courtship, the male hovers in front of a female perched on a branch, oscillating rapidly from side to side continuously facing the female. If the female is interested, she rises slowly into the air and hovers with the male. The male continues to oscillate back and forth facing her and both fly off into different directions. Younger males tend to have smaller oscillation swings, within a couple inches, while more mature males tend to have larger oscillation swings, which can be nearly a foot wide. Many hummingbirds sing during courtships, however, there has never been a reported observation where the White-crested Coquette sings during courtship. Nests have been found in various trees such as certain orchids and the guava tree (Psidium guajava) from 5-18 meters high. They tend to make their tiny nests out of downy materials covered with gray or greenish gray lichens. Some times, they may even add cobweb onto the outside of their nests. These nests tend to be far out from the trunk of the tree with only partial shading. These hummingbirds lay two white little eggs at a time. Care for the eggs only involves the female. The male is absent and has no parental obligations. While hummingbirds tend to be most active in the morning, the time and amount of time she left her nest averaged shorter in the morning than in the afternoon. She spends on average 50-60% of her day sitting on her eggs, incubating, the rest of the time she is feeding and gathering more material to add to her nest. Females tend to be very protective of their nests, chasing away other larger hummingbirds if perched in or near her territory. However, the white-crested coquette is usually timid towards larger birds when feeding. Toward the end of the dry season, females have been reported to abandon their nest most likely due to lack of food, leaving her eggs to die. The White-crested Coquette lays two eggs at a time, which tend to hatch within a month of incubation. The mother then feeds and broods her chicks. She feeds them by regurgitation constantly throughout the day. The nestlings grow feathers within 20 days since they hatch and they are now large enough to where the mother no longer needs to brood. The nestlings leave their nests within 21 to 22 days since they hatch (Skutch 1960).

The white-crested coquette (Lophornis adorabilis) is a species of hummingbird in the "coquettes", tribe Lesbiini of subfamily Lesbiinae. It is found in Costa Rica and Panama.